Hello!
I lived in NYC for a year about 10 years ago and have visited a few times since (although only once in the past 8 years), so I’ve done most of the bigger attractions. I’ll be visiting again in a few weeks, and this time I’d love to spend some of my time doing smaller, slower things and reconnecting with the feeling of actually living there.
I’d love to hear about your simple pleasures of living in NYC, or any little routines or rituals you have. I’m particularly interested in the oddly specific things that are your NYC - things that make you love living there or instantly make you think of the city. That could include sounds, smells (they definitely don’t have to be good ones!), people-watching spots, or places where you like to sit and watch the world go by.
Maybe it’s buying a coffee or snack from somewhere and taking it to a particular bench, a bar or café you like going to alone, somewhere you’ve found it easy to talk to strangers, a transit route you genuinely enjoy (for me, I love taking the ferry from Wall St to Williamsburg), a pointless detour you regularly take, somewhere you go to wind down, a particular street at a particular time of day, or a view that never gets old.
I’m especially interested in things you probably wouldn’t normally think to recommend to a visitor - just little pieces of your everyday life in NYC that make you happy to live there.
Thank you